This Experimental mode is anticipated to be available until the morning of Monday, January 11th (PST)!
Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – January 7, 2021
A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum.
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
EXPERIMENTAL MODE
The next experiment begins! This time we’re hoping to get your feedback on some balance changes. We’re using the 2-2-2 Role Queue ruleset so that you can get a feel for how these balance changes might affect the live game.
HERO UPDATES (ONLY IN EXPERIMENTAL)
Ashe
The Viper
- Aim-down-sights damage reduced from 80 to 75
- Aim-down-sights recovery time reduced from 0.7 to 0.65 seconds
Developer Comments: Ashe being able to eliminate 200 health enemy heroes with one headshot while assisted by 30% damage boost became too dominant, especially when combined with the other improvements to her weapon. We are...
Read moreThis Experimental mode is anticipated to be available until the morning of Monday, January 11th (PST)!
Hey everyone!
We’re back with another Experimental mode focused on testing some balance changes. As with all Experimental modes, these changes are not guaranteed to reach the live version of the game. Check out the patch notes here.
What are we trying to address?
While we don’t have an overarching theme for today’s Experimental patch, we’re hoping to get your feedback on a handful of heroes.
What are we testing?
For this Experimental patch, we’re adjusting four heroes:
Ashe – The Viper has received a number of adjustments over last year, resulting in a slightly too powerful state when combined when damage boosts. Her capability to eliminate 200 health enemies with a single headshot became too dominant. We’re reducing her aim-down-sight (ADS) damage, but also reducing her ADS recovery time, netting similar damage output, but requiring at least two shots to reach the same result.
Hanzo – Storm Arrows doesn’t quite have the impact we’re hoping for at the moment. We’re slightly reducing...
Read moreWelcome to Season 26 of Competitive Play
Season 26 of Competitive Play is here!
Unlocked at level 25, Competitive Play is designed for those players who want to put their skills to the test, and offers a more serious experience than our Quick Play or Arcade Modes.
GETTING STARTED
Before you can kick off your competitive career, every player will be required to complete five placement matches in a selected role to obtain their seasonal skill rating for that role. Within the standard Role Queue competitive mode, players will earn separate skill ratings (SR) for each role in Competitive Play, for a total of three distinct SRs. This rating will be a number between 1 and 5000, with higher values indicating a greater skill level. Players will also be assigned a tier per role based on their rating—Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, or Grandmaster – and climbing into the next tier is possible as you improve. Open Queue will utilize the same rating and tier system, but since ther...
Read moreUPDATE (Dec 22)
We have issued a manual action wave against players with confirmed instances of gameplay sabotage. We encourage everyone to take this time to review the purpose of the Priority Pass feature and its intended function within Overwatch.
Hey everyone! Now that the Priority Pass is live on the Retail environment, we wanted to make sure we were clear on the feature’s intended function, goals, and what constitutes misuse of the feature.
How It Works: Intended Function
The Priority Pass is intended to offer players a reward for queueing “Flex” on the role queue screen, thereby helping to fill games’ most needed roles and increase the rate at which matches begin. When you queue for “Flex,” you are essentially signing up for all three roles and will be assigned a role based on which have the lowest population at that time. Based on the final result of the match (win, draw, or lose), you will be awarded differing amounts of Priority Passes, i.e. if you’re looking to maximize your Priority Pass accrual rate, you’ll want to play to win! These Priority Passes can be used to “skip [part of] the line” when queuing for roles currently experiencing high volume (transparently, this is most often Damage).
Priority Passes may only be ...
Read moreOverwatch Retail Patch Notes – December 18, 2020
A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum.
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
BUG FIXES
General
- Fixed a bug within Freezethaw Elimination that caused knockbacks to not count towards Thaw Interruptions for the “Thaw-Stopper” achievement
We have identified an issue with Junkertown that was resulting in an uptick in collapsed matches. We have temporarily disabled the map from Quick Play and Competitive Play while we investigate the issue. You will still be able to access the map in Custom Games and the Arcade.
Appreciate the report - Have this one logged and is under investigation.
Overwatch PTR Patch Notes – December 16, 2020
A new Overwatch patch is in development and now available for testing! To share your feedback or report any issues, please post in the PTR Feedback or PTR Bug Report forums.
Please note that the below patch notes only include changes currently available for testing on the PTR. While many of these changes may also be available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in a future patch, the PTR is PC-only and only reflects changes coming specifically to that platform.
NEW MAP: KANEZAKA
- Kanezaka , nestled beside Hanamura, is our newest Free-For-All Map!
- Fight for your life in a thrilling battlefield of alleyways, ancient stone, towering steel, and cat cafes. Shatter your enemy’s dreams in the pottery shop, deliver beatdowns in the Tora no Sumika nightclub, or rise above the competition in the tower at the center of the city.
GENERAL UPDATES
Feature Update: Replay Viewer Custom Spectator Options
- Added Detached Timecode UI option to...
“D.Va online.”
D.Va has been re-enabled! We appreciate your patience. Please let us know if you experience any issues similar to those reported earlier today.
We have identified a critical issue with D.Va in today’s patch. We have temporarily disabled D.Va from play in all game modes until a fix has been identified. Will follow up when we have rolled out a fix!
Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – December 15, 2020
A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum.
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
WINTER WONDERLAND 2020
Overwatch Winter Wonderland is back. Unwrap new cosmetics, earn weekly rewards, and freeze your foes in the new 4v4 holiday brawl, Freezethaw Elimination!
Celebrate the season with Winter Loot Boxes. Unlock festive new seasonal items—including legendary skins like Conductor Reinhardt, Ice Empress Moira, and Penguin Mei—along with wintery items from previous years. Plus, play the returning Snowball Deathmatch, Yeti Hunter, and Snowball Offensive holiday brawls!
Learn more about Winter Wonderland on PlayOverwatch.com.
GENERAL UPDATES
New Feature: Priority Pass
In an effort to help address the ...
Read moreOverwatch Retail Patch Notes – December 10, 2020
A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum.
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
HERO UPDATES
Baptiste
Immortality Field
- Health decreased from 200 to 150
Amplification Matrix
- Ultimate cost increased by 15%
Developer Comments: To adjust Baptiste’s overall power for the recent increased effectiveness of his Biotic Launcher and Amplification Matrix, we’re taking some durability out of Immortality Field and increasing the cost of his ultimate once again.
D.Va
General
- Mech Armor/Health has been redistributed from 200/400 to 300/300
Developer Comments: We’re increasing the ratio of armor to health that D.Va’s mech has to enable it to withstand more damage from shotguns, beams, and weapons with...
Read moreHey everyone, today’s patch was the final hero balance update of 2020. As we approach the Holiday season, our patch cycle will be slowing down a bit to allow the team to spend time with their families. We will work hard to get an Experimental patch up within the first few weeks of January, after which point, we’ll continue our regular cadence of balance patches.
We still have a few patches coming your way this month, so be on the lookout! Winter Wonderland is just around the corner and we’ve got an awesome PTR coming up as well. Wishing you all a happy and safe Holiday season!
Read moreOverwatch Retail Patch Notes – December 3, 2020
A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum.
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
EXPERIMENTAL MODE
The next experiment begins! This time we’re hoping to get your feedback on some balance changes. We’re using the 2-2-2 Role Queue ruleset so that you can get a feel for how these balance changes might affect the live game.
HERO UPDATES (ONLY IN EXPERIMENTAL)
Baptiste
Immortality Field
- Health decreased from 200 to 150
Amplification Matrix
- Ultimate cost increased by 15%
Developer Comments: To adjust Baptiste’s overall power for the recent increased effectiveness of his Biotic Launcher and Amplification Matrix, we’re taking some durability out of Immortality Field and increasing the cost of his u...
Read moreHey everyone!
We’re back with another Experimental mode focused on testing some balance changes. As with all Experimental modes, these changes are not guaranteed to reach the live version of the game. Check out the patch notes here.
What are we trying to address?
While we don’t have an overarching theme for today’s Experimental patch, we’re hoping to get your feedback on a handful of heroes.
What are we testing?
For this Experimental patch, we’re adjusting three heroes:
Baptiste – We’ve been seeing quite a bit of feedback recently that recent changes to Baptiste, namely buffs to his Biotic Launcher and Amplification Matrix, have resulted in him over-performing within the Support role. We’re looking to adjust this now by reducing the Immortality Field disk’s health and increasing the amount of ultimate charge required for Amplification Matrix.
D.Va – We’re attempting to make some adjustments to D.Va’s mech that should allow her to sustain more damage from shotguns, beams, and weapons...
Read moreTesting Experimental Changes in the Practice Range
We have seen feedback that under circumstances where only a handful of heroes have Experimental hero updates, there can be difficulties with being able to select and test with the heroes of your choice. As such, we wanted to provide an alternative method for players to be able to test whichever Experimental changes they are interested in.
- First, navigate to the Play Screen, then select the Game Browser
- Within the Game Browser, select Create
- On the Create Game screen, select Lobby
- Under Match, you’ll find a toggleable option known as “Use Experimental Update if Available,” select Yes
You can then select the Practice Range, if you are interested in being able to test out heroes at your own pace. If you would like to set up a custom game with different rules to test with your friends, that will also be an option!
We are keeping an eye on feedback surrounding the Experimental mode and will continue to iterate on how players can test with...
Read moreQuick Play and Competitive Play will both have Priority Passes, but these will be separate, meaning you won’t be able to use the Priority Passes earned in Quick Play within Competitive Play.